CHINESE ART

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26396, 14 April 1951, Page 2

CHINESE ART

EXHIBITION TO OPEN NEXT WEEK WORK OF REV. CHEUNG WING NGOK An art exhibition which should appeal to the public by its novelty as well as its merit will be opened in Christchurch on Tuesday. Fifty-one water colours, all the work of the Rev. Cheung Wing Ngok, Chinese Missioner in Wellington, will be on display in the D.I.C. lounge. All will be for sale, Sie proceeds going towards the erecon of a community hall and church •on the mission’s property in Wellington. The paintings, comprising landscapes, birds and plants, show the grace and delicacy for which Oriental work is noted. The student will be particularly interested in Mr technique, and the layman will admire his paintings as charming glimpses of Chinese scenes.

Mr Cheung said yesterday that he learnt to paint in the same way as most Chinese artists—by a series of "apprenticeships” to recognised masters. .The relationship between master and pupil was not paralleled in the West, but was more like the bond between master and son, or prophet and disciple. As part of his training the student was instructed in the main historical schools of Chinese painting, and became familiar with the technique of each. He had tried to represent different schools in his exhibition, five schools of landscape painting, for instance, being exemplified.

Calligraphy and Art Art students were chosen in China because of their proficiency in calligraphy, said Mr Cneung. Chinese art was evolved from the national calligraphy, which accounted for the formalised painting technique. Chinese artists depended on wealthy patrons for the sale of their work and painting was rarely a full-time occupation. Mr Cheung has been stationed in Wellington for five years and is due to return to Hong Kong on exchange £BOO was raised for the mission. He hopes to see a Chinese Mission established in Christchurch and considers that the erection of the community hall and church in Wellington will be a step in this direction. The exhibition will be under the patronage of the Archbishop of New Zealand (Archbishop West-Watson) and will be opened by Mr J. K. McAlpine, M.P.